In the final part of the story, Mr and Mrs White bury Herbert in a cemetery two miles away from their home. A week later Mrs White is grieving for her son so much, that she forced Mr White to make the second wish. Mr White didn’t agree with this but made the wish for the sake of his wife. “Then a knock sounded on the front door”. Mrs White thinks its Herbert and goes to open it but Mr White stops her. Mr White makes the third and last wish. “…and frantically breathed his third and last wish.” We don’t know what the wish is but we think it is for everything to become the way it was before they saw the paw. The author used many techniques of writer’s craft to make the story enjoyable and exciting. Some of these techniques are word choice, personification and alliteration. An example of alliteration is “Better let it burn” and an example of word choice is “…drew back with a grimace” with the word “grimace”. This story showed me if someone gives you advice you shouldn’t just ignore it. It also made me feel sympathetic for Mrs White because she lost her one and only son and she didn’t have anything to do with making the first wish in the first place.
In “The Monkey’s Paw” the author uses an effective technique called “characterisation” to make the story enjoyable. One of the characters that W.W. Jacobs has well developed is Mrs White. In the text we see that Mrs White isn’t very keen on new things but later on in the story that opinion changes. We see this in,
“…drew back with a grimace” and “The Monkey paw. The Monkey’s
Paw… I want it.”
This example highlight to the reader that when Mrs White first saw the paw she wasn’t very excited and she had a twisted and disgusted expression on her face. The technique used in this quote was word choice with the word “grimace”. The author had used word choice to show what Mrs White is feeling and what she thinks of the paw. Also these quotes tell us how Mrs White’s attitude of the paw changes throughout the story. I think at first Mrs White was slightly scared of the paw incase it might have been hurtful to her family. These quotes tell a lot about Mrs White’s personality. I also think that Mrs White would rather have a loving and caring family than have three granted. However if the paw brought her family back she would take the risk of using the paw.
Another interesting character in “The Monkey’s Paw” is Mr White, though Mr White’s personality is completely different from Mrs Whites. Mr White is greedy for money where as Mrs White is caring. We know this from the quotes.
“If you have had your three wishes, it’s no good to
you now then Morris…” and “Mr White with a cry stooped down
and snatched it out.”
These quotes suggest to the reader that money comes into Mr White’s head before family. In this he is telling the sergeant that it’s no use to him so he may as well give it to Mr White. We know from these quotes that at this point of the story all Mr White can see is money and three wishes, therefore he would do anything to get hold of the paw even put his hand in the fire. I think Mr White is actually sensible as at the end he realizes the consequences and by making the second wish he doesn’t want to lose someone else as well. I also thought that when he made the first wish he should have listened to the sergeant and thought about what he was wishing for.
The author creates a tense, exciting atmosphere and setting in the story “The Monkey’s Paw,” by creating suspense throughout the story. Also he changes the weather in each part of the story. The weather in the first part of the story is very stormy and windy. I know this because Mr White says,
“I should hardly think that he’d come tonight” and “and outside the night
was cold and wet
From this the reader can see that the Whites are expecting a visitor at their house, although Mr White assumes that he won’t come tonight. We know that Mr White means how the Sergeant can come in such stormy and wet weather. I think this was an excellent way of saying how the weather was out side instead of simply just saying it was stormy. I liked the way the writer wrote something unclear which would make the reader think “why would he not come” but later he makes it much clearer by saying “outside the night was cold and wet”
On the other hand, the next morning there was a contrast in the weather from the night before. We know this from the quote,
“…brightness of the wintry sun next morning, as it streamed over
the breakfast table, they laughed at their fears.”
From this we can note that there is a huge contrast between the two scenes. As the family are laughing at their fears and not thinking about the consequences of making the wish, they could be in danger in the future. This gives the atmosphere a sense of doom. I think the White family should stop thinking about the past and pay attention to the present and upcoming event.
Another way that the writer engages the reader’s interest in the “The Monkey’s Paw” is by creating a theme that runs throughout the whole story. A theme that the author uses in this story is the “the danger of wishing” He uses this technique in,
“It has caused enough mischief.” And “…If you keep it
don’t blame me.”
From these quotations we see that the Sergeant doesn’t want to pass on the danger of the paw incase the family use the monkey’s paw. Also the Sergeant tell Mr White that he has done his job of warning him of the consequences, so it is up to Mr White if he takes the risk of using the paw or not. I feel that the author uses this theme to tell the reader to not be greedy because it always has consequences.
Another part of the story the author uses this theme in, is when the sergeant is telling the family of the dangers of the paw and how he has had three wishes granted. We see this in the two quotes,
“’I have’ he said quietly and his face whitened” and “his tones were so grave
that a hush fell upon the group.”
From this the reader sees that Sergeant Major Morris doesn’t want to talk about his experiences with the paw and he doesn’t want too reveal anything as he hesitated a lot before telling anything. In the second quote the author used a metaphor to describe how scary and quiet the tone of the sergeant’s voice is. This shows that as the Sergeant told the family about the paw he also got scared as well as the family.
In conclusion we can see that at the start all Mr White could see the money and when he had faced the consequences he knew what would have happened if he had wished his son alive. We see that he had become sensible and thought about the future and thought even if he did get his son back he might lose something else that is precious. I found this short story very enjoyable because the writer had used many techniques to make it full of tension and suspense. The message conveyed therefore is not to run ahead of you but listen to other people’s warning.
